Surprising Changes
by DovenGrenade
Summary: New chappie is up! This new one has stuff in it that was lent to me with express permission from the origonal author. All rights go to Littlebirdy05 for such things. :D THANK YOU! Rating is for cursing.
1. Chapter 1

**New story alert! XD miss me? Probably not, but still. This story is one that I'm co-writing with Mobygirl21, I hope that you like it! BTW I'm not going to be updating all the time, our internet is going excruciatingly slow, so I can't get on very much. **

You know how when you're sitting there, on the couch, with some of your best friends, that you start to think about how you got to be so lucky? Yeah, well, this is one of those times.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Conner, and I happen to be both very lucky, and very unusual. I used to be that normal little girl, or at least in public, and no one ever thought I would be one for being strange or abnormal in any way. It goes the same for my best friend, Keila Macintosh. All of this abnormality started about six months ago, while we were having a sleepover at her house. One of the very best parts about sleeping over at her house was the room. I'm used to having almost no leg room, and for a 5 foot 7" 110 pound claustrophobic girl, that isn't a very good thing. We were going through her old toys, seeing which ones she wanted to keep and which she wanted to toss. She was just going to pick up an old doll, when her hand froze. "What was that?"

I was confused. "What was what?"

"That orange glowing light in the corner... Let's go over and check it out!" That's my friend for you, always spontaneous.

"I don't know, what if it's something like a ghost?" I shuddered. I had a thing about ghosts, since I had an odd experience way earlier in life involving a large dresser and my sister's room.

"Don't be such a baby, Liz. It's not a ghost." I didn't take her word for it, but I didn't want to argue, so we got up and walked over.

It turns out that it was a hole in the floor. Orange and glowing, as a matter of fact. I didn't think it was a good idea to be hanging out around orange glowing holes, but something inside me stopped me from running from the room, screaming my head off. Maybe morbid curiosity, or maybe something more, I don't know, instinctual.

"Let's see where it leads!" Keila said excitedly. I thought it over. What was the harm? It wasn't like it could hurt me. But I didn't know whether it was going to lead off to some land of milk and cookies, or if a hole leading straight to Hades had just opened up on the floor of my best friend's bedroom floor.

Keila must've seen the look of indecision on my face, because she immediately put on the puppy dog face, sticking out her lower lip and looking up at me. "Please please please please please?"

I gave in. "Alright, but if this hurts, I'll hurt you worse." She looked at me, and opened her mouth to say something, probably saying that I wouldn't hurt a fly, but seemed to think better of it, seeing how I could pick her up and throw her if I really wanted to. She changed her mind.

"Alright, but I get to go first." And with that, she stepped forward, took a deep breath, and leaped into the hole.

I went forward, and looked down into it. I could see Keila flying down in like an oversized slide, and took the leap of faith, screaming bloody murder the whole way down. There was an odd tingling sensation creeping into my fingertips and toes, and it soon turned into a burning. I was _so_ going to kill Keila when we got to the end of this thrill ride. _But what if it doesn't end?_ A little voice in the back of my head piped up. _You hush, this is no time to be a 'fraidy cat._ The burning was quickly spreading all over my body, almost like someone had put acid into my veins.

Then, I saw a speck of blue up ahead. It grew larger and larger, until finally it took up most of the tunnel. _This is it, then. I'm dying. This is the end. Goodbye, life. I'll miss you. _Then I fell flat on my back, and my world went black, but not before I felt the burning grow so hot that I knew I was dead.

I felt heat on my hand. _That's impossible, though. It's the middle of winter. What the hell? _I opened my eyes, and light flooded my vision. I looked around myself, and saw Keila lying not far away from me. The weird part was, though, was that she looked like a... cartoon?

"Keila!" I whispered loudly. All I got in response was a groan. "Keila, wake up. You're a cartoon!"

That got her attention. "What kind of acid trip are you on, Liz?" She sat up slowly, and clutched her head. But her impending headache was forgotten when she looked at me. "So are you! I wonder... I feel like I've seen this cartoon style a lot before." My eyes widened. "You don't think..." She and I looked at each other. "The Penguins of Madagascar!" We said at the same time. We laughed for a second, but then reality hit us.

"What do I look like?" Keila asked hesitantly. I looked her up and down quickly.

"Like you, but a little different." She looked at me pleadingly. "What kind of different?"

I sighed. Keila had always prized herself on her complete normality, and now... She wasn't too normal. She had a tail, for one. For another, she had different colored eyes. Bright, stunning, almost unnatural blue. Her hair was still the same wavy brown as it always was, though.

"Different as in you have a fricken tail! AND your eyes are a way different color. They're like this really bright blue."

She looked down at herself, and screamed slightly when she saw the tail. "What about me?"

She looked me up and down, and her eyes widened. "Well, first off, you have a tail too, and... Wait a second, turn around..."

I did as she said, and I heard a faint squeak from behind. When I turned back around, she looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "You have... wings! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" I looked at my tail. It was blue, which didn't surprise me, since blue was my favorite color, and it had a tassel of black hair on the end.

Then it hit me: "What color are my wings?"

She snickered. "Blue, duh." I laughed too.

I looked around us for the first time. It looked like a street in... New York City! That's it! I looked to Keila. "I just figured out where we are. Look around real quick!"

She squealed. I knew she was thinking what I was: We could visit out penguin idols! Our favorite show was always Penguins of Madagascar, and it was always our dream to go and meet them. "Oh my gosh! We have to go find them!" I sighed, thinking this was a bad idea, but what's the worst thing you can do when you're in a different dimension, have blue wings and tails, and were making a fuss about finding a fictional group of penguins? Yeah, right, like I should really think that before plunging off into the unknown. Little did I know, wings and tails weren't the stopping point of our powers...

As we walked north, down the long, winding street, a problem became known. How exactly were we going to find four penguins, in a city we had only been to once? And even then, it had been in a different dimension! I looked to Keila. She seemed confident enough on the outside, but that's just an act she puts on when we're in public. To quote Private, she's "Like toast, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and good in a jam".

That's just about the time that I heard a ruckus up ahead, and stopped in my tracks. I beckoned to Keila, and we sneaked ahead quietly, hiding behind a dumpster when we knew we were close. I realized two things immediately. One, my hearing was so much better that my old ears were laughable, and two, it seemed to be a man talking to a woman.

"Listen up, unless you wanna have a slit throat, you'll give me all your money, and drop your pants, now." It sounded like a Guido man, the kind you hear about on Jersey Shore.

"No, please, I don't have any money on me! My kids are waiting for me at home, please!" The man laughed, and there was a muffled smacking sound, followed by a whimper. The man had slapped the woman, hard.

My blood pressure skyrocketed. There was one thing I couldn't stand, and it was someone hurting someone else without provocation. I felt my eyes go dark, and Keila took a minute step back.

"Oh my gosh, your eyes just turned reddish purple." She whispered. I took a deep breath, and tried to stop myself from losing control. I leaned over to Keila, and started whispering in her ear. "I'm going out there. I can stop him from hurting her, and I can't just stand here and do nothing. Wish me luck."

Keila looked at me funny, almost like she'd never seen me before. I knew what she was thinking. I'd never been one to be spontaneous, and this was the first time I'd actually put my life on the line willingly. "Don't you look at me in that tone of voice! I can do what I want. Even if it is unlike me!" With that, I turned, took another deep breath, and walked out of our hiding place.

I took each step like it was vitally important, walking slowly, and felt my wings hiding themselves in a backpack we'd found on the side of the street, almost free of dirt and other unmentionables. I had tucked my tail into my pants, so I looked like just another girl on the side of the road.

I walked up to the people, and saw that the man had a knife, though it looked dull and puny. He was definitely Guido, with black greasy hair and obnoxiously big fake gold chains.

The woman was obviously scared for her life. She had her back to the brick wall of a building, and her eyes were wide, trained directly on me. The man didn't realize I was even there, until I cleared my throat, my arms crossed.

"What exactly is going on here?" I used my regular voice, lulling him into believing that he was safe. He turned slowly to face me, and when he did, he laughed out loud. "Nothing that concerns you, sweetheart. Run along now, go home and play with your dollies." He turned back to the woman. Big mistake.

I felt my heart rate increase, my eyes darken once more, and a ripping noise told me that the back pack was getting shredded by my wings. The noise got his attention, and he turned back with a smirk on his face, only to turn into a look of total, undulated fear.

"That's not exactly the answer I was looking for, there, _sir._"


	2. Chapter 2

**Urgh, sorry about the last cliffhanger, but it seemed like a really good place to stop. Sorry if I sound weird in this chapter, but there's this old ex-friend of my sisters cruising around our house in a borrowed truck, so we're all on red alert. R&R PLEASE!**

**oOo**

"That's not exactly the answer I was looking for, there, _sir._"

Now, as you can guess, I was thoroughly _pissed off._ His little "tough guy" show wasn't going to fly with me, and he wasn't going to just get off with a scolding and letting him off down the street. From what I'd seen, he was going to rape and murder a woman because she wasn't going to pay him with money.

He still looked terrified, and when I looked to the woman, she bore the same expression. I took pity on her, although my rage filled mind fought my rational one all the way. "Go, run, just get away from here."

She nodded quickly, and ran off down the street as fast as her stiletto heels would carry her. I turned back to the man, my rage now unleashed. I heard a strange noise behind me, and I turned to see Keila go dark. Under her now red eyes went black, and I quick glance down told me mine had done the same thing. She had grown talons, and was glaring at the man.

I grinned in a evil, twisted sort of way. I was glad she was backing me up on this matter, and happy that she wasn't afraid of her wild side. I snarled at the man, almost scaring myself when I heard the guttural sound.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" He seemed to be trying to gather his wits, and spoke in a quivering, basically wimpy voice, "What are you going to do to me?"

I laughed out loud. "Well, now. We haven't quite gotten there yet, have we? What do you think Keila?" I asked, turning to my partner in (not so much) crime. She shrugged, her eyes not moving from the man in front of us. "Maybe we should see just how many people those wings of yours' can carry, take him down to the police?"

I nodded. It seemed reasonable enough to take a man who had threatened rape and murder to jail. "Okay, let's do it." I leaned over and started whispering. "I'll knock him out, and we can look for some rope so if the dumbass wakes up during flight he won't knock us out of the air." She nodded curtly once, and I used a quick swipe of the wing to knock him out cold.

Keila and I didn't find rope per se, but we did find nylon cording in a dumpster nearby, and bound his wrists and ankles to each other, and a length holding them together enough to where if he started struggling, then he couldn't go very far. I took a step back, and snickered. Keila had taken out a Sharpie marker and written a smiley face on his forehead.

I got ready to fly by scaling the side of a tall building, (I had surprisingly great strength) and jumping off the top and flying for a few minutes. It was an exhilarating experience, since I had never even been on an airplane before. I felt immense strength flowing throughout my body, not just in my wings, and knew that not even a tank could take me down. I landed, to much applause on Keilas part, and started making a sling to carry the man.

I searched him first, and found his wallet. Along with having over $15,000 in **cash**, he had a drivers license, ID, and a small baggie which one sniff told us that it was marijuana. I threw it as far away as I could, and was satisfied that it flew almost 300 yards before finally making a splash in a shallow puddle. Keila looked at me strangely, and took a lighter out of the guy's pocket, throwing it almost as far down the road.

She grinned. We had never been the most athletic, and being strong was never our thing. Even being able to climb ropes in Gym had been a struggle. Now we could throw things further than anyone else, even a body builder, could. All in all, this was turning out to be quite the good deal.

We 'borrowed' the money from his wallet, and saw that his name was Gregg Finnard. I looked down at him. "Well, Gregg Finnard, I guess this is the end of the line for you, now off to jail you go!"

Keila snickered, and we got ready for takeoff. I decided it would be better if we took off from the roof again, since I didn't yet know how just how strong my wings were. Keila stopped me for a second, though.

"Wait a second, I think I feel something on my back. I don't want leeches or anything, so will you check me?" I chuckled, and had her turn around. I soon found out that it wasn't a leech, but wings, hers a light, almost white blue. I told her this, and she squealed with delight. "Oh my gosh! I wonder why they weren't there before? That'd be so bad ass if they could be retractable!"

"Yeah, it would! Then we wouldn't be those freaks in the crowd with the wings and tails! But I don't think they're retractable..." I frowned. Maybe we would just have to tuck them into our pants when we wanted to act normal. "Oh well, too bad so sad, I say. This is gonna be so much easier, since we can carry him between us now!"

We grabbed Gregg by the wrists and ankles, got into a comfortable position, and took off. I still couldn't get over how free and wild I felt when flying, and one glance to Keila told me that she felt the same way. We flew as high as possible (Which was pretty darned high up!) so we would look like maybe large birds from the ground. The surprising part of this was that we could still point out individual people from crowds, and we found the police station easily.

We landed carefully, and so we wouldn't arise suspicion we took the ropes off him and hid our wings. The latter was a little harder, since we didn't know how to control them very well yet, but we figured it out pretty quick. Then we slung his arms across our shoulders, trying to ignore the obnoxious clouds of alcohol breath coming from his mouth, and tried to act like he was a huge burden. His toes just barely touched the ground, since we were almost taller than him. We got to the front door, and a secretary ran up to meet us after having seen us through the windows.

"Oh my gosh! What happened here?" She looked flustered and overworked. I started 'explaining'.

"We were on our way home from the zoo and we heard this guy trying to rape this woman up ahead, and we couldn't get away fast enough before he saw us! So he tried to take out a knife and hurt us, but I take Tai Kwan Do every 2 days, so I kicked it out of his hand and knocked him out." Keila butted in.

"This might've been a quarter of a mile away, we live not too far away from here."

The secretary looked absolutely terrified, and tried to get us tea or water or coffee, but we weren't thirsty at the moment. She kept looking at us like she expected us to go into shock at any second, which for any normal teenage girls would've been true. But we declined, and she brought out three police officers. They couldn't believe that we'd taken the guy out, but I insisted that that was what happened. I even showed them a developing bruise on the side of his head from where I hit him.

They took him into a cell, thanked us for our service to the community, and we were on our way again. We decided to regrow our wings and fly to the zoo to see the penguins like we'd wanted to do.

I shuffled my wings. "Ouch, is it just me or does it kinda twinge when we regrow them?" Keila looked back at me from her perch. "Yeah, kinda, but I'd bet it's just because we aren't used to doing it yet." (That last line sounded kinda gross, but too bad so sad. XD)

After we took off, I looked over to Keila. "Wanna race?" I grinned, and she nodded with a playfully determined look on her face. I reared my wings back as far as I could, and with a gigantic flap, I was off. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Keila do the same. I kept going as fast as possible, but Keila was _fast! _She kept up without breaking a sweat. I decided to kick it up a notch.

I dove about 100 feet, and swooped back up quickly. It was a bit shaky, but it did what was it was intended to do: I got forward about three hundred feet. Keila laughed like a maniac, and made a clever movement with her wings that propelled her forward almost as far. I giggled, and looked down. I didn't realize it, but we had made it almost all the way to the zoo without even knowing it yet. I pointed and yelled to Keila, telling her to go down. We dove with our wings pinned back as far as they would go, and landed without a noise.

Once we were settled, I motioned to Keila again to come over towards me. "Keila, do you _really_ think we're in their dimension? I mean, what're the odds of us just happening to come to the one place where we'd want to come the very most, _and_ have super powers most people would kill for?"

She shook her head, smiling. "There's only one way to find out, now, isn't there?" With that, she headed off in the direction of the zoo. I followed closely behind, not hiding my wings just yet. It felt so good to have my wings stretched out to their almost 20 foot full span, it should be illegal. "Hey, Kiki? One question... What happens to the rest of me when I got that mad?" She giggled, and I walked faster so I could catch up with her.

"Well, you start getting this weird black veiny stuff under your eyes, it's kinda cool looking, and then your eyes actually change to this reddish purplish color, I guess it depends on how mad you are. You get some huge claws, and, pardon my french, you look scary as hell." I was shocked. I'd never been called scary looking, even when I was pissed at someone I very scarcely knew.

"Come on, hurry up! I wanna get there before they close up!" But just as she said that, I saw something in my peripheral vision, black creatures that I had no name for, creeping deep in the shadows. I shook it off, telling myself that it was just a group of cats. "Hey, Keila, it kinda feels like someone's following us, doesn't it?" I said pointedly. She just sighed, and walked faster. I had hidden my wings a couple feet back, so hopefully whatever- since I'd decided it was too small to be human -was following us hadn't seen them.

"Keila?" She looked back around at me, so quickly that I had a hard time seeing her. "What is it now, Lizzie?" I stood stock still. "I wonder, is there some of Blowholes minions after us? I mean, could that even be possible?" She never got the chance to answer, because just at that moment, something slick and thin hit me in the back of the neck, my last conscious memory being Keila gasping out, "The penguins!" before she too hit the pavement with a thud. Then I blacked out, not knowing anything more.

**oOo**

The first thing I felt when I woke up was cold. Not just air conditioned room cold, like iceberg in the Arctic Ocean cold. At first I thought me and Keila had dozed off with the window open, then the happenings of the past day hit me like a ton of bricks. I tried sitting up, but seeing as I was already there, I opened my eyes, and couldn't believe what I was seeing. There I was, in the middle of the penguins HQ.

I looked around incredulously, and then looked at myself. I was tied up to a wooden chair, and my wrists were bound behind my back, where I could feel another chair, most likely holding Keila. I realized that she was still asleep, and I prodded her in the back gently, glad that the penguins weren't in the HQ just yet. "Keila, wake up! You gotta see this!" She snorted groggily, then I felt her head snap up to the back of the chair. "Oh my gosh, that wasn't just some strange dream!"

I giggled, thinking the exact same thing when I'd opened my eyes for the first time. "Ugh, but we're tied up to each other." She snorted playfully. "Dude, we have claws, tails, wings, _and_ a bunch of other super powers, and you're worried about some rope?" I looked down, realizing just how silly it sounded for me to be saying that. "But we don't want them to know about that unless they have to, now do we?" She nodded, me feeling it more than seeing it. I decided to try something. I closed my eyes, and used my shoes to scuffle around on the floor. It had the effect I desired, and I could hear it bouncing off objects in the room, and I could picture exactly what they would look like.

"Oh my god, you _have_ to try that!" I explained what to do, and she giggled giddily when she found she could do it too.

"That's too freaking cool! That'll be nice when we're trying to work in the dark, or maybe we have something like cats eyes?" I shrugged, and I could hear her doing the echo-locating thing again, 'seeing' my shrug. The nice part was that we could 'see' all the way around us, so having your back to something or someone didn't matter.

Just then, the penguins dropped in through the fishbowl entrance, Skipper first, then Kowalski, Rico, and Private. Keila and I got dangerously silent, and hoped they still thought we were asleep. But our luck had struck out, Skipper came right over to us, seeing right through the closed eyes and slumped shoulders. I sighed, sitting up straight again, acting like a kid caught in the act of doing some 'no-no' or another. Keila did almost the same, but silently, almost scaredly. Skipper broke the awkward silence that followed.

"So... Who are you and how do you know about Dr. Blowhole?" I, again, sighed, this time much more loudly than when I acted like I was asleep.

"So you heard that, did you?" I realized embarrassedly that my "Hillbilly" accent was showing through. I must really be scared, then.

"Yes, we did. Now answer the question!" The last part he said in my face, close enough for me to feel the spittle flying from his beak. I growled quietly, and he backed off. I sighed.

"Okay, I'll tell you. He's after us. He's tried to kill us multiple times, because someone who can talk to animals _and_ humans would be valuable when he's trying to get supplies for his dumbass lobster army. So now we have no idea where we are, have a bossy penguin in our faces, are being chased by a murderous bottlenose, and are quite frankly scared shitless. Great. Just fricken great." By the end I was practically yelling, and the entire team looked startled, Skipper especially. A female had never acted this hostile at him, they were usually sweet and helpless, and he'd never heard a girl cuss before.

He gathered his wits back up, and tried to make a coherent sentence. "Well, we had no idea... We thought you might be working for another organization that was supposed to be taking him down, and we don't want any competition getting in our way... We wouldn't have knocked you out if we knew you were just two girls that were in danger from him..." I snorted. "Can it. We've already thought about getting help, but no one we know would believe us if we told them there was a homicidal dolphin trying to kill us."

He seemed to get over the shock of my language. He moved around the chairs, and looked to Keila. I closed my eyes, and tried to do the echo-locating thing again so I could watch and hear at the same time. The team tried to make themselves comfortable, but couldn't really rest easy knowing that there were two girls tied up being interrogated in the middle of the room. Private was sitting in front of the TV, but didn't dare turn it on until Skipper was done with us. Kowalski was pacing in the corner, which was kind of messing up the echo-locating, but I could still see what was going on behind me. Rico was the only one who seemed at ease, polishing a large knife in the corner.

"How did he come to find out about you twos' condition? I mean, he couldn't have just stumbled upon it or anything." Keilas face hardened, her brain working to find a good enough lie to please them. "We went to the Coney Island Zoo when we were really little, and we talked to him without knowing his little revenge problem, so he knew our names and relative ages, so it would probably be pretty easy for him to track us down. By the way, random change of subject for ya, Elizabeth, do you think we should show them..." I nodded. "Let's only show them certain aspects for now, just the ones that would get us out of these god forsaken ropes and chairs, I'm starting to get a stiff neck." I heard three things at once. Her claws come unsheathed, a snipping sound that I assumed was her cutting the ropes, and the entire teams gasps.

I did the same, but I also changed my eye shape on accident, turning them into cat-like slits. Skipper jumped back with a yell, and I stood to my full height. "High ceilings. Thank god for that, I have back problems without having to be stooped over the entire day." Keila noticed their shocked faces. "Hey, calm down, we won't use these against you unless you piss us off." She said casually, flaunting her claws like a fresh set of nails. I laughed maniacally, and they seemed to believe us in a minute sense.

"Where are you two coming from, then? I mean, you can't have been from around here, you looked lost." This time it was Kowalski that spoke, causing me to turn fast enough to make him jump.

"We're from Florida, but some way or another we came here, I honestly have no clue how exactly we got here, one second we're going through her toys," I jerked my head towards Keila, "and the next we're in a street about three miles from here, wandering around like a bunch of idiots. No doubt that evil porpoise has to have an evil purpose for this." Private snickered behind his flippers, and I joined in, just now realizing what I'd said. (All rights for the "Evil Purpose" joke goes to halfhuman123's story "Operation: Search and Rescue". Thought I'd throw that in before I get flamed for stealing a line. =D)

Skipper cleared his throat loudly, and we both stopped laughing immediately, though we kept our huge grins plastered on our faces.

"So, what're we going to do about this? You girls can't just wander around the city, homeless." A wonderful thought ran through my head, one that every Penguins of Madagascar fangirl would give their left hand for:

"Why don't we just stay here? I mean, there's plenty of room, and we wouldn't be too much trouble." Skipper sighed, but Private cut in.

"Yeah, they wouldn't be too much of a nuisance, Skippah! I think they could be useful when we have to do things and interact with humans, think about it! _They could buy us chinese food!_" He whispered the last line, but what with our impeccable hearing, we could both hear him, and Keila looked to me, I looked to her, and we both started laughing like maniacs at the same time, which only made us laugh harder. Skipper looked irritated, Rico and Private looked like they wanted to join in but were too afraid to, and Kowalski looked only slightly amused, not being close enough to hear what was said.

"Will you two _ever _stop laughing?" I tried to answer Skipper, but this is what it sounded like:

"I- _hahahaha- _can't- _haha_- stop- _ hahahahaha- _to- _hahehe- _breathe!"

Private finally cracked, and was rolling on the ground he was laughing so hard. I had tears running down my face, and Keila was in a fit of those really annoying silent laughs that come from not being able to breathe. We started to calm down after about 2 minutes of this, and then there was a really awkward silence afterward that couldn't be broken by anything but conversation.

"Who knew that such a simple sentence could cause all _that_?" I grinned. Keila and I had those fits on a regular basis, although never over something as funny as that. Even during school they would happen. That brought a thought to my head: What happens when we get back to school? We'll want to flaunt everything that's happened in their faces. What if we lose our powers when we go back? _How do we get back in the first place?_

I didn't dwell on that last thought too much, or else the worry would show on my face and we would be caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.

"So, are we going to be staying here or what?" He looked torn. Let us stay here and catch on to their missions, or let them go and go against everything their unit stood for. He decided on the first thought, and had a look of great dislike on his face.

"I guess you two can stay here until you find a way to get home, but that's it. No '_Can we just stay here?'_ if you don't have a home to go back to." He threw us a threatening glance, then turned to the team.

"Looks like we're getting a few temporary house guests, so let's get them some things gathered up so they can be as comfortable as possible. Operation: Home Sweet Home is a go." He sent them off to get us things like bunks and bathroom necessities. I looked to Keila with a look of confused laughter.

"Operation: Home Sweet Home?" I laughed out loud, but quickly stifled it after Skipper threw me a look. Looks like we're going to get settled in pretty well here, huh? But that thought proved wrong, because the next day would be like going through hell.


	3. Author's note Sorry!

**OMG OMG OMG I'm soooo sorry for not updating sooner! O.O Please don't throw anything at me! I have a perfectly good explanation for anyone following this story: My old computer crashed beyond repair and I just got a new one not three hours ago, the one I'm using right now, so sorry for not updating in a couple months! I'll write the next chappie ASAP, but I gotta work it up first! This is just one of those annoying authors notes that gets you all excited about a new chapter and then you get all disappointed when all you see is this... sorry again!**


	4. Chapter 3

**O.O I hope everybody read the last chapter, cuz it explained my absence. Again, sorry to the peeps who just kept waiting on this next chappie... Now, onward!**

That night's sleep wasn't the best, with the fangirl jitters reminding me where I was every few seconds, combined with the fact that I got to sleep on the floor, made it extremely difficult to get comfortable. Keila's position on the couch didn't look much more comfortable, since the couch was only about four feet long. She ended up sleeping with her feet hanging over the edge so far that the arm of the couch was in the crook of her knee. Rico had hacked up some blankets for us, while we had to try to look grossed out and amazed about this, though judging from the strange looks we got from the rest of the team, I don't think we fooled them. We talked for a while, and I brought out my iPod, which I had had in my pocket when we went through the hole/tunnel thingamajig. I turned on Limp Bizkit Livin' it Up really loud, getting weird looks from all around, including Keila. I was usually into screamo/heavy metal, not old ass rap. I just stuck my tongue out at them. I decided to start dancing to it.

_Life in the fast lane_

This is dedicated to you, Ben Stiller

You are my favorite motherfucker

I told you, didn't I?

I was mouthing the lyrics, ignoring the giggles and startled looks.

Drama makes the world go around

Does anybody got a problem with that?

My business is my business, who's guilty?

Can I get a witness?

First thing's first

The Chocolate Starfish is my man, Fred Durst

Access Hollywood license to kill

A redneck fucker from Jacksonville

Bring in on the dumpster funk

My microphone machete's in the back of my truck

Rockin' soul steady with the he says, she says

And don't forget about the starfish navigation system

I giggled, and Keila joined me with the dancing.

Don't hate me, I'm just an alien

With thirty seven tons of new millennium

Dum diddie dum, where's it comin' from?

Misses Aguilera, come and get some

Oh no, which way to go , to the dace floor?

In stewa stereo, pay me no mind

I seen 'The Fight Club' about twenty eight times

This went on for a few more songs, until we got bored enough to stop. We went to bed, and the next morning, this is what goes down:

"I wanna go somewhere..." Keila whined. I sighed, looking to the guys.

"Well, we do have that money we... erm... _found_. And if we're gonna be staying here for a few days, we'll need clean clothes and stuff like that, so I guess a shopping trip's in order. Do you guys wanna come?" Skipper rolled his eyes. He must've thought we were stupid, asking penguins if they wanted to come shopping in a human store, but Kowalski saved me.

"I do have a human formula mixed up, still untested, of course. We could try it out today..." I balked. I didn't know if it was going to work or not, and I really didn't want to end up with four penguins in the middle of Walmart.

"I don't know if that's such a hot idea... What if it wears off too quick and you can't hide quick enough?" He rolled his eyes as well.

"I know for a fact that it will last at least 3 hours. After that, I'm not really sure... Even if it did wear down, we would know early enough to be able to tell what was happening and take more." I was startled. Kowalski was actually _sure_ of something? Since when!

"Well, okay. But if we're left in Walmart with a bunch of angry hippies around us for stealing penguins from the zoo, you're coming up with an explanation." He just laughed.

Kowalski went to his lab, grabbing four vials from a countertop, and ran towards the back. I lost sight of him for a minute, but coming from the clangs and bashing noises I could pretty much tell where he was. "Don't hurt yourself in there!" All I got in response was him skidding back into the room with a giant grin plastered on his face.

"Okay everyone, bottoms up!" They all four grabbed a vial, and chugged it, making a variety of faces, ranging from horrified, grossed out, or, in Ricos case, loving it. I couldn't believe my eyes as four guys sprouted up in front of me. Not just the kind of guys you see at Walmart, who're mostly hairy or flabby in some shape or form. These were the kind of guys you expect have either been in the army or possibly on steriods. I'll start with Rico, since he was the one causing me to be squished up against the walls.

He was _huge. _Definately not fat, but he looked like he was a serious body builder. He still had his scar, and his trademark mohawk. He looked like a freaking male model. Kowalski had a very... unKowalski-like haircut: Instead of being swept back, it was long and hanging in his face, like a skater kid's hair. He was taller, more lean than the rest of the guys. He was still grinning from ear to ear, looking pleased with himself. Skipper was of a shorter, more stocky build. He was still taller than me, though. Private was shortest, younger looking than the rest, but could still pass as a 18 year old. He still looked like a body builder, but more like the guy trying to look good for spring break than someone trying to be the hugest guy on the block. All of them had on black muscle shirts and lighter washed jeans.

"Woah, you guys are built!" Keila was the first one to talk. Was it just me, or was Kowalski blushing? I just nodded, at a loss for words that one of Kowalski's inventions actually worked. I know it sounds mean, but I'm used to hearing about all the failed inventions, not the ones that worked flawlessly... But I couldn't dwell too much on that fact, because they were ready to go.

"Uhhh, how're we all gonna get out?" I asked, mostly because my claustrophobia was creeping up on me. I looked around: We couldn't fit through the fishbowl opening, especially in the daytime. There was alway the sewers, which was looking tempting. The tunnel through Marlene's cave was also promising. Private raised his hand.

"Yes Private?" Skipper asked impaitiently.

"Why don't we just go through the sewers? It'd lead us right under a lot of stores, depending on which way we go..." I rolled my eyes

"Gee, why didn't I think of that? Oh, right. Because we're gonna be in public, and I don't wanna be all stinky! How did you get us in here?"

Skipper gave the expected answer: "Classified." I snorted, almost laughing until I saw an unexpected look go through his eyes. I looked away, trying to keep myself from blushing. I turned back to everyone else, looking for an answer.

"We could always use that exit to Marlene's, but she'd probably ask questions..." Keila spoke up, after being abnormally quiet. "Questions are fine, so long as they aren't embarassing. After all, you guys questioned us as soon as we got here and we did okay!" I raised my eyebrow at her. We had basically lied our way through the questionaire, so we didn't really do _okay. _At least it worked.

"Well, alright. But she's not gonna be happy that we basically invited you into her home unannounced." Keila and I both did a little happy dance, or as much as we could being squished up against four hot guys in a smallish room. We made our way over to the little door leading out of said cramped room.

We had some trouble getting Rico through the tiny little door, but we managed. We crawled through the tunnel. Keila and I could both see just fine, but the guys obviously couldn't: They kept running into walls and patches of slime. There was the occasional curse from Kowalski or Skipper. Then the most surprising thing happened... Rico spoke up. "Ouch, there's something sharp back there, I hope you all know." We all turned towards him, or at least towards the sound of his voice. He had a deeper voice, like some sort of singer or something. It was quite nice really, sort of comforting. I realised that he sounded exactly like my dad, and I turned back around for fear of someone seeing the tears welling up in my eyes, even though it was pitch black. We kept heading in the direction the guys pointed us in, hoping it was right. We started seeing some light up ahead, and slithered down the path faster. We broke through to the cave, and heard a startled scream.

"Oh my gosh, who are you?"

**R&R please! Sorry for the wait!**


	5. Lemurs and Gates

**Haiz! I'm back from the dead, and doing a *GASP* filler chapter here, just to satisfy the very few of you that are still reading this story. Grrr, I almost had a real chapter all done up for you, but my computer had to be wiped, cuz I already picked up a virus, damned things. Sooo, FLAMES BEGONE!**

"Oh my gosh, who are you?"

I slid out the end of the tunnel after a particularly slimy spot. Unfortunately for the guys, they had rushed ahead in the confusion that came before we exited the tunnel, and I ended up sliding onto Skipper, Kowalski being a similar pillow for Keila.

"Oof!"

I rolled off of Skipper, deciding now was not the time to be shy. I got up, and looked around. We were in the back of the otter habitat, behind Marlene's cave, but where no one could see us. I looked at my clothes, and they were pretty clean, considering the patches of slime and various goo's that I didn't want to think about where they came from. Knowing the guys, they probably just threw some of Kowalski's old inventions and potions down there to get rid of the evidence, and didn't think twice about using the passageway after that.

I groaned, knowing that multiple bruises were developing as we tried to gather ourselves. I felt really bad for Marlene, knowing that she had to be freaked out pretty bad after having six humans crash into her home. I looked around for her, and she was nowhere to be found. I guess that she would be hiding somewhere so we didn't try to hurt her. I sensed rustling in the bushes, and crouched down a little. I saw a white otter foot poking out from underneath the trunk of the bush, and smirked.

"Marlene, you can come out, ya know. We're not here to hurt you."

She poked her head out, obviously shocked that some human girl knew her name. I guess she decided to voice her concerns.

"H-How do you know my name? What am I saying, you probably can't understand me anyways." I rolled my eyes, grinning.

"Yeah, I can understand you, and your penguin friends here told me a lot about you." I gestured to the boys, who were standing awkwardly. Rico was glaring at Private, making me guess that something happened at the end of the tunnel with them, too. To be quite honest with you, I would be scared for my life if I saw the big guy giving me a look like that.

"Penguins? I don't see any penguins, all I see are a bunch of hu-...mans..." She said slowly, catching on to the whole deal.

"I'd been working on a Human Formula for quite some time now, and I decided that we'd test it out today." Kowalski rubbed the back of his neck. Keila snickered.

"Oh, so you pick _now_ to be all bashful? I swear, I thought you were gonna break out with some gloat-y dance at HQ, and all of a sudden you're being humble? Talk about mood swings."

By this time, we were all pretty much laughing our asses off. Even Marlene threw in a chuckle or two. Bur then, Kowalski did something I found both cute and surprising: He gave Keila a noogie, which wasn't hard for him, since her head came to about his mid-stomach. She swatted him away, trying to fix her hair. Rico and I were rolling on the floor, with tears running down our faces because we were laughing so hard. I had never seen Kowalski resort to anything like that in all the episodes of their show that I've watched, and I wondered if it meant that there was a spart between them that was more than friends. I knew not to meddle, since it seems like anytime someone messes in someone else's love life, all they do is screw it up.

"Alright, alright, stop! I'm gonna pee!" The guys all made faces, and I snickered, knowing that I could get the reactions out of them that I wanted to. My stomach growled, and I realised that I hadn't eaten since dinner two days ago. I wondered why I didn't see that earlier, but I guess I was too high off of fangirly-ness stuff that I just didn't notice.

I guess they heard it, cuz' Skipper turned to Marlene, saying, "We'd better go, sound's like someone's starting to get hungry. We'll be back later." We hopped the fence that wound around her habitat, and headed for the Zoo's gates. We were not five feet away from the exit when we heard:

"Maurice! Why are the silly humans in my presence before the ugly zookeeper woman opens the gate?" I facepalmed. The lemurs were an unexpected speed bump, although Mort is soooo CUTE! Not like, 'I like him' cute, 'little kid with a lolly-pop' cute. Skipper obviously agreed with my first thought.

"Ugh, Ringtail alert. Men-" 'herm-herm' "-and girls, stay on your toes." Rico tried to do exactly that, but I glared at him, and he sunk into a defensive position. Keila and I stayed upright, crossing our arms and waiting for the lemurs to strut up, unlike the creepy sneak that the guys were preparing for. They did exactly that, Julien only standing tall enough to reach my knee. God, how I wish we could just disappear right now, since they'd never let us get out in time. I thought for a second, trying to make a plan of escape, while the guys were still in their martial arts positions.

"Guys, give it a rest. It's just some lemurs." Some very familiar lemurs. They didn't need to know anything like that yet, or not at all unless they magically are sucked back to the real world with us. Much as I'd love to see that happen, I didn't know what we would do if that were so. I shook my head, having thought of all of those things within milliseconds. This whole "super powers and stuff" thing was cool and all, but sometimes it makes me downright dizzy.

They didn't straighten up, so I did it for them, yanking them by their hair into a full standing position. I got three glares and a hurt look, but I only smirked.

"Ow, Liz! That hurt," Private pouted. I went over to him, stood on my tippy toes, and gave him a peck on the cheek. Everyone looked flabbergasted as I said, "I'm sorry for hurting you. Better?" and walked back to the rest of them. met their stares with a death glare.

"What are you looking at?" I turned my eyes dark purple, the pupils catlike, and silently dared them to say anything back. Skipper and Rico winced, but were brave enough to hold my eyes. Private and Kowalski looked away completely, and Keila just snickered. I hissed at her, a sound similar to air being let out of a tire, and that shut her up. I grinned, dropping the whole "pissed" demeanor, and we just watched the royal pain saunter up to us like he owned the whole zoo. Which, come to think of it, he really thought. That explains so much.

"Who are the pretty human ladies being?" (BTW I suck at his accent, sorry! X.X) Maurice and Skipper rolled their eyes, indicating that they dealed with this a lot. I wasn't one for compliments, since I had come to learn recently that it usually meant that someone wanted in your pants, and that didn't fly with me. I tried to not lose my head, knowing that the dim-witted lemur didn't mean anything by it, but it took most of my willpower not to show my anger.

"We're not lemur-lovers, nor are we all the way human, so don't get your hopes too high," Keila said. It was sad but true, we didn't know what to call ourselves now that we're what I would call freaks. But I didn't dwell, because Julien was looking at me especially with googly eyes.

"I like the red haired one, Maurice." He turned his eyes back to me, which had taken a vacation to look at the pudgy lemur. "I declare that you may be worshiping me now!" I just rolled my eyes, and turned back to the guys and Keila.

"Are we ready to go yet? I'm bored." Julien looked utterly outraged by being bypassed, but I continued to ignore him, knowing how badly it would bother him.

"Does anyone else hear something? It sounds like an annoying lemur, my favorite snack!" Said line shut up the indignant 'king', and I gave an inredilous look to Skipper. I wasn't used to hearing him use sarcasm and, quite frankly, hilarious wordplay like that before. I was used to the straight to the point sort of guy. Huh, who'd have thought he had it in him?

We walked calmly towards the still-closed gate, laughing every now and then while listening in on Julien's angry muttering and occasional snapping at poor Maurice. I felt bad for the portly lemur, since he had to put up with the self-proclaimed king on a daily basis. I wouldn't have enough patience to do such a thing.

We reached the gate, and looked up. "One thing... How're we gonna get out of here?" Private asked.

"Easy! We climb," Keila answered, and she grabbed a bar. I did the same, and soon we were gliding upwards easier than monkeys. She got there first, and flipped over the spiky top, and I did the same. We landed catlike on the other side, and waited for the boys to catch up.

"Geez, how did you two learn to climb like that?" Rico asked. Keila and I shared a grin.

"Natural talent. Where to now?" She asked. We had talked about where we would be going, and we had a few options: The gas station on 54th St., the Walmart on Main St., and a Target on 14th Ave. were just a few of them. We decided on the gas station, since it was closest, and headed down the street in the early-ish morning light.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow I haven't updated this in a really long time, sorry for that. First it was my trip to Arizona that slowed me down, then while I was still out there my hard drive crashed on my brand new computer, so I couldn't write AT ALLLLLL, which pissed me off to a great extent. Now I'm kinda stuck in this story, so I can't figure out which way to go, and xXxPOMROXMAHSOXGIRLxXx has evidently turned her PM system off on accident, so I can't talk to her and work it out... Meh. Fail.**

**EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY PONCHO MAN REMARK HAS BEEN LENT TO ME BY LITTLEBIRDY05, EXPRESS PERMISSION TO USE IT IN THIS STORY WAS GIVEN TO ME BY HER. KTHNXBYE.**

The gas station was closer than we had origonally thought, so we got there in no time. I grabbed some snacks for 'breakfast', which, for me, consisted of a bag of chips, a cinnamon roll, and a Red Bull... Healthy, huh? I then decided that I had to pee RIGHT NOW, doing the pee-pee dance for a second before darting to the bathroom. I finished up and we paid for our 'meals', leaving the dumbfounded cashier with a volumptious tip and a grin. We decided our next place to go was to Walmart, much to my displeasure. I had a bif with both Walmart and Target, since I had been thrown out and landed on my ass so many times. I tried suing them, but they said I couldn't since it had 'been done of my own accord', whatever they meant by that.

Rico had grabbed what looked to be a whole shelf full of Monsters, which quite honestly scared me a little bit. He was hyper enough without the aid of large amounts of caffine. The rest of us had either water, soda, or coffee and some kind of snack, just to hold us off until we got to another store to buy something more satisfying.

Just before we got to the Walmart parking garage (cuz they can't really put a large parking lot in the middle of NYC, ya know), Rico spoke up.

"What do I do with the empty cans?"

"What the fu- Empty cans?" I looked back at him, my eyes widening. "Oh fuck, don't tell me you drank _all _of those...?" He was just standing there with a bag full of empty Monster cans, looking around at us.

"What, I wasn't supposed to drink all of them?" I facepalmed, and when I looked back up, there was an empty spot where he had been standing, and a suspiciously Rico-shaped blur heading for the store.

"RICO!" There was the general chorus of everyone speaking at once, then looking at eachother like 'STFU', and we all took off after him, trying to keep up. Skipper was at the front, unsurprisingly, with Keila and I in the back, trying to look like any normal teenage girls running as fast as they can.

He was damn _fast._ Like seriously, he was outrunning all of us, even the guys. At least he went into the store, instead of running out onto the streets where we'd never find him.

"*Pant pant pant* Ok, I think this is a lost cause. He's too damn fast, and we'd look like idiots running through there chasing after him. Kowalski, options," Skipper barked.

"Well, we could try to track him down and sedate him, but that would include the dart gun, which is still with Rico, so that's out. Or we could just go shopping and wait for him to calm down and find us." Keila raised her hand and jumped around like an overexcited student.

"Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!" Kowalski and Skipper nodded at her. "Why don't I go with you guys to start looking around, and if it's alright with her, Liz can go looking for Rico, maybe trail him so he doesn't get into too much trouble." Both guys looked at eachother for a second and shrugged.

"Couldn't hurt, just make sure he doesn't do anything to you, he can be a bit... touchy when he's this hyped up." I nodded, and handed off half of the remaining money to Keila, since I trusted her the most.

"'Kayso, I'll meet up with you guys whenever I can get him to sugar crash enough to come with me. If I'm not back in an hour and a half, start looking for me instead, I may or may not be dangling from a rafter by my feet." They saluted me (weird, since I had just met them... maybe it's an army thing, or maybe they're just poking fun..?) and walked off.

I ran in the direction that I had seen him heading in, and with my inhanced hearing, almost immediately picked up on heavy, fast footsteps leading away from me, towards the automotive section. Leave it to a guy to find that place even when he has no idea where he's going...

I found him playing with the radios, turning them up to obnoxious levels and blasting random radio stations all at once, getting glares from passerby. I sent them an apologetic glance and turned all the radios off, standing in front of Rico and glaring up at him. He loomed over me with a goofy grin, looking expectant.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I sounded like an angry mom.

"...This." He jumped directly onto the top of the shelves, leaping upwards until he got into the rafters. I honestly don't know how they held him, those things are only supposed to hold like 300 pounds max, not including the weight of the friggen' ROOF they're holding up, but they did. I waited until he was too busy trying to run away up there, then jumped up and landed lightly, right behind him.

"Oh really?" He twisted around quickly. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot, enjoying the bewildered look on his face. "I thought not. Come on, those guys are waiting." We jumped down into the abandoned crafts section, and he started whining as soon as his feet hit the ground. Except that it wasn't just whining, it was _hyper_ whining, super fast and extra irritating.

"I'm hungry! My feet itch. OOH what's that? I wanna buy something!" In the end, we took a not-so-quiet little detour to the hardware section. "Why are we going to the tape? Ooh, I want the camo duct tape!" I brought it up to the little counter thingy. The cashier sniggered behind her hand as his antic continued in the background.

"Is this what I think it's for?" She made a motion across her mouth, seemingly casual. I nodded, smirking evilly. She snickered again, looking at him once more before full out cackling. I turned on my heel to find him directly behind me with a lampshade on his head, leaning over me slightly so he could see me from underneath his unconventional headwear. I just shook my head despairingly and flipped my hand up, knocking it from his head, then turned back to the cashier, who appeared to be having issues not outright laughing.

"God forsaken Monsters," I mumbled under my breath, just loud enough for the both of them to hear. She pulled herself together enough to ring it up and put the money in the cash register, watching as I ripped off the plastic and pulled a strip of it off of the roll. Rico started to back away slowly, but I pounced on him, knocking him backwards, and slapped the strip across his mouth. I realized how kinky of a position we were in, me straddling his waist while duct taping his mouth was dirtier sounding - and looking - than I'd origonally thought. I put a few more pieces on either side, making sure he wouldn't be getting it off anytime soon, then got off of him and helped him up. I hooked my arm around his and walked off towards the clothing section, grinning when I heard Ms. Cashier finally lose it and start laughing uncontrollably.

He tried to run off, obviously, but I managed to entice him into going into the clothes instead. Everyone else turned when they heard our approach, most of them going into fits of giggles when they saw what I had done. I heard Rico mumble a little bit from under his tape mask, then watched as he tried and failed to remove it. Keila was doubled over laughing so hard, Skipper was practically rolling on the ground, Private was laughing goodnaturedly, and Kowalski was nearly roaring when Rico tried to hack up scissors, then watching as they came up slowly, and him use his tongue to cut some of it off. In the end he had a piece of it still stuck to the side of his face, but the rest was off. His eyes were still glazed over and I knew we'd be using more of the roll later on. He entertained himself by finding a clearance bin full of horrible, colorful Mexican ponchos. He put one on and stood on the edges of the bin. He jumped headlong into a bin of jeans, kicking his legs in the air in a hopeless attempt to free himself from the layers of denim.

"Rico, what are you doing?" Skipper yelled.

"I am not Rico, I am Poncho Man, wearer of Mexican stuff, defender of useless clothing items! I- I..." Rico yelled, his voice mufffled, kicking some more. Skipper crossed his arms, and Rico stopped kicking. "Um... Skipper." Skipper reaised an eyebrow at Rico's quied, muffled voice. "Poncho man is stuck..."

o0o

"Hey, Rico. I think this would look good on- Rico?" I turned in a full circle, looking everywhere.

"_Start searching." _Skipper said.

"Mwuahaha, my secret lair is a success." I heard ominously from a circular rack of clothes. Keila held up a finger to her lips, then tiptoed over to the "lair". She crouched, waiting, then leaped straight in, rolling out the other side with Rico's mohawk grasped tightly in her hand. I thought I saw Kowalski's eyes flash jelously, but I could be wrong. "Gah, my plans have been foiled!" Rico screeched dramatically. He immediately jumped up and leaped into a woman's cart. "Mush! Mush I say!" I slapped the back of his head.

"Rico!" Then I happened to get a good look at the woman who was staring back at me, dumbfounded. Brown eyes, blonde hair, a blue metallic lip ring... "Rachel?"

"... Liz?"

**DUN DUN DUN! Who's this Rachel chick? How does she know Liz? When will Rico CALM THE FUCK DOWN? Why am I asking you all these questions when you don't even know yet? THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW.**


	7. RACHEL!

**Don'tcha just love how like, every chapter starts out with the fact that my computer breaks? Hahaha, I fixed it myself this time, so TAKE THAT DELL! Heh heh, I'm kinda jazzed up a little bit, I just found out my uncle is coming down from Alaska to see my family and I, so this chappie may seem just a bit keyed up...**

"...Liz?"

I couldn't believe it. I knew that she'd disappeared last year, and I knew she always LOVED this show, but I didn't think she'd get sent here too! I tackled her into a hug, squealing. She still looked a bit shocked, but returned the hug with just as much enthusiasim.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD! What are you doing here? I thought you disappeared!"

"What are _you_ doing here? I didn't know anyone else could come over like that! Eep! And Keila's here too?" She grabbed a surprised looking Keila and hugged her fiercely. I laughed and hugged her harder.

"So how the FUCK did you get here? And why haven't you come back?" She looked confused for a moment.

"What do you mean, haven't come back...? I've only been here for, like, three days!" A look of horror spread across both Keila and I's faces. That just made her scared. "I have only been here for three days, haven't I?" Uh oh.

"Hon, you've been gone for about four months," Keila said sadly, as Rach got even more scared.

"But- but how? It feels like it's only been three days...?" My eyes widened.

"Of course! Time moves slower in other dimensions, right? So I'm assuming that concept works here... We must've been gone for over a month by now!" Keila had been slurping on her Coke not a moment before, and she started choking, hard. Kowalski patted her on the back until the fit passed.

"Oh no! We've got to get back, now!" She said once she got her breath back.

"But how? We only got here by accident anyways, it'll probably take a lot longer to get back than it did to get here... Unless..." I turned my gaze onto Rachel. "You wanna tell us something?" Up until then, I don't think she really paid attention to the guys behind us, but now she looked at them, not meeting my eyes, and blushed. She was notorious for getting into the whole witchcraft and wicca stuff, which I thought was pretty cool and I usually joined in, but now she could really be the answer to our prayers.

"Well... I might've brought us all here, accidentally..." I groaned. Of course.

"Nice. You think you can do it again?" She looked doubtful.

"I'd need to go to a good metaphysical store and get some supplies, but I think I could manage it with some help. But it'd be expensive, that's for sure." I smiled.

"Money's not a problem for us anymore." I slipped a few bills from the top of my pocket discreetly. We didn't need anyone trying to rob us or anything on top of it all. Her eyes widened even more, and I laughed at her a little bit. She'd been gaping a lot since we ran into her.

"I think that'd cover it," she said faintly. I noticed that she seemed to be eyeing Rico nervously, who was at the moment trying to hide in another clothes rack. "What's up with him?" Keila and I shared a laugh.

"Monster energy drinks is what's wrong with him." She nodded understandingly. We'd had our share of Monster drinking contests, with all of them ending up with all three of us acting as Rico is now.

"So who are you guys, anyway?" She was looking at all four of the boys again. Private spoke up first, always friendly.

"I'm Private, and these are Skippah and K'walski. Rico is... erm... somewhere in the store..." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. It was true, Rico had disappeared AGAIN. I watched as comprehension and manic fangirl energy started spreading across Rachel's face. I gave her a look which I hope said 'the fourth wall has yet to be broken', but I wasn't sure she got the message.

"Well, now that we've got the intro's done, why don't we go ahead and check out? I don't want to risk another Walmart bif with Liz, those definately are NOT fun..." Keila said.

"What bif?" I blushed. This was not a conversation I had wanted to have. Rachel spoke up when the silence lasted too long.

"She pretty much always gets kicked out of any Walmart or Target she goes into. Either she's done something to another person or she's 'caused substantial damage to their property'. Load'a shit if you ask me, she just happens to be there when the shelves start falling and stuff... But anyways, let's start heading up to the front, maybe we can find your friend, what's his name, Rico?" Skipper nodded to us to lead the way. It was so easy to forget that these guys had been penguins not four hours ago.

We ended up buying plenty of clothes, including all black outfits just for shits and giggles, and we spent well over $1000. I wasn't used to the plush life, and it felt nice to be living that way, even if it was just temporarily. It turns out Rachel was in a sort of predicament like ours, though we still hadn't decided if she had super powers or not just yet. I hoped she did. She was living in a small apartment without anyone else knowing, and we decided that as long as we'd be staying here, we should probably go stay there instead. She was fine with it.

"I call the shower first!" Keila called, skipping ahead with her large amount of bags. I groaned.

"Really? Cuz I'm pretty sure I'm going to sit on you until you let me go first," I stated. I'd do it if I had to, possibly sitting on her for hours. Then again, those were hours wasted, meaning they would be days passed in our dimension. I noticed that Rachel was falling behind, and I slowed my pace to match hers. We were soon out of earshot of everyone else.

"So, what's up? You've been oddly quiet this whole time," I said.

"I guess I just wasn't expecting time to pass so fast here. So how'd you guys find them?" She asked.

"Find who, the guys? We didn't find them, they found us. They knocked us out and took them to HQ within the first two hours of us being here." She laughed.

"So they really are penguins, aren't they? Well, how did they end up being human, then?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh, Kowalski made this human potion stuff that they all drank, it should wear off in like two or three hours, _should_ being the key word. You never know with him." She laughed again, but then stopped abruptly.

"You didn't happen to get... powers when you came through the portal, did you?" My eyes widened.

"Yeah, how did you know? Did you get them too?" She smirked.

"I caused them to happen when I came through, so yeah, I did." She extended some white claws, seemingly just stretching her hands. I did the same, showing off my deep black ones. We grinned at eachother, then looked back up when we heard a call.

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Keila yelled. I ran forward, Rach not far behind, and skidded past the alley that Keila was standing in, bathed in orange light. I slid straight past it and fell onto my side.

"Fuck," I gasped, then rolled to my feet again. Everyone else was already there, conversing.

"I know exactly where it leads: Straight to hell!" Skipper yelled.

"No, this is how we _got_ here, it's obviously the way we're supposed to get back!" Keila parried.

"Oh yeah? And how do you suppose you do that, just jump down there and pray for mercy?" He snapped back.

"That worked out pretty well the first time!"

"Would you just _shut up! _Both of you! I'm pretty tired of this dipshit-diddlyshit argument already, and I just got here! We've got to go down there, and that's the end of it." I had everyone's attention now. "We've got to go back. We've already been gone in their time for at least a month, and I'm betting that everyone's looking for us. I'm sorry, it's been great getting to know you guys, but we've got lives there, families, jobs and school! We can't just drop it all. I'm sorry," I repeated. I then proceeded to step forward, sigh, and jump into the hole.

**REGULAR POV:**

Everyone watched as the last of Liz's burgandy hair disappeared down the hole.

"I'm sorry guys, but she's right, we've gotta go. Thanks for everything," Keila said, then she jumped down there as well. Rachel just said 'sorry', then followed suit. The guys looked around at eachother. Private was trying not to cry, Rico looked crestfallen, Kowalski looked almost heartbroken, and Skipper was obviously trying to stay frosty, but was failing.

"Well, boys, I guess we should start heading home," Skipper said sadly. They had only known the girls for a short amount of time, but they were beginning to like them. They all started heading down the alley, except for Private. He looked from his teammates, to the hole, and back again a few times, then cried out and jumped down the hole, trying to make it look like something grabbed him from inside of it. The three remaining men turned around, looking every which way, then located the source of the noise. They rushed over, looking down the hole to see Private speeding away.

"Skipper, I think we may have to go after him," Kowalski said, a spark of hope shining in his eyes.

"I agree. Operation: Rabbithole is a go." He then jumped into the swirling orange mass, crossing his arms across his chest. Rico went next, jumping in headfirst. Kowalski took a look around his home, then jumped in as well, the portal closing behind him.

**How's that for an ending? I didn't mean for this all to happen so fast, but it really just seemed like the best time for it, instead of dragging out their time in NYC too long and everyone getting bored. PLEASE R&R R&R R&R R&R please please please please please!**


	8. Teaser! Sorry!

**Oh wow, I haven't even written on this for like three weeks. I feel like a horrible person, but I've had some really weird stuff to do lately, and I'm literally staying up way too late just to write. :) I hope you appreciate it. This unfortunately didn't amount to much, it's more of a really short teaser chapter, I'm working up another idea for the next (hopefully longer) chapter...**

**Liz POV (again):**

I woke up on something soft yet scratchy. All I knew was that it was really cold, and I had something plastic stuck to my hands. I opened my eyes to see bright white clouds above me, and I was laying in the middle of a field. I looked around for Keila and Rachel, finding them not too far away from me. I also was in for a big surprise.

"GUYS?" I shrieked. They all started, even Keila and Rachel. They all proceeded to groan and moan about something hurting, mostly their heads. Only Rico complained about the landing at the end of the tunnel.

"Well that hurt," he stated bluntly. They all looked around, almost like they expected something to jump out and attack them.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" He yawned loudly, seemingly bored.

"Private got sucked down the hole, we had to come and get him. You changed your hair," he stated blandly.

"...What?" I grabbed a lock of my hair and pulled it around to see what he meant. It was now blue-black, dark enough to make my skin even paler. I huffed and puffed for a moment more before closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Look around. Does this look like your... place? Do we look the same as we did there? NO! Because we're in a different DAMN DIMENSION!" That shocked him out of bored-mode.

"We're WHAT? We come here for a simple rescue mission and we end up in a different dimension?" Skipper yelled. I nodded helplessly, my anger dwindling into a thin coating of joy. Most of them were standing now, only leaving Rachel and Rico on the ground. _Well, they're a lot alike, aren't they?_

I then proceeded to knock the wind out of the three standing men by grabbing them into a group hug, squealing. They looked confused but happy that I wasn't mad at them anymore, so that was good. I just hoped that I could come up with a solution to our problem.

I let everybody go, realizing just how tight I had been hugging them, and cleared my throat.

"So, where the fuck are we?" I looked around, hoping for an answer to come to me. I saw a familiar looking house, though I couldn't place it exactly, and I saw that we were in a long, thin field, full of frosted grass. It was early morning, and we were obviously back in our dimension, because it was COLD.

"We're behind the Jenks' house!" Keila exclaimed. That's why the house looked familiar: Our friend Amanda lived there. We'd only been there a few times, but we still recognized it.

"We should know where we're at from here, right? Maybe we can find a newspaper machine and see what the date is," I suggested. She nodded. I looked around for Rachel, looking for approval, and found her still on the ground, snoozing. Rico was doing the same. I held a finger up to my lips, and snuck over to her. I guess we didn't lose our powers, because I did it with enough grace and silence to startle myself. I crouched down and took a strand of my now-black hair, tickling their noses in turn. Rachel swatted herself in the face on the first try, but Rico must've been a heavy sleeper, because he took four tries before he did it. "Come on, sleepyheads. We've got stuff to do," I said.

"Your hair...?" I just shook my head and shrugged.

We jumped the gate easily, barely making any noise aside from a small squeak on the rusty hinges, then started walking down the street. Luckily for us, there was a newspaper machine at the street corner, about a half a block away. Keila ran ahead, and plastered her face to the glass.

"You're not gonna believe this..." She stated ruefully. I groaned and trumped forward, not really sure if I was going to like what I see.

"DECEMBER? HOW THE FUCK CAN IT BE DECEMBER? WE LEFT IN OCTOBER!" They all flinched as my ear piercing shriek scraped against their ear drums. I looked around wildly. Of course, it almost never snowed in Florida, maybe once every ten years or so, but it looked damn close. There was frost on everything, and with the sun just starting to come over the horizon, everything looked even more icy. I sighed. "I guess we'll just have to work with that, now won't we?"

Rachel glared at me wearliy. "What do you mean?" She asked in a nervous tone.

"I mean we need a sob story, and quick, before someone recognises you people with your normal hair and crap..." I pouted for a few seconds. Then something hit me. "You guys wouldn't happen to feel something weird at, like, the bases of your spines, would you?" I asked awkwardly. They all cocked their heads to one side or the other for a moment, then nodded as one.

"First of all, that was really creepy, and second of all, check yourselves. I think I know what it is..." Keila said. They looked around to their backs, finding their tails. The only one who didn't was Private: He was turning in circles trying to see behind him. He probably would have kept doing it if Rachel hadn't stopped him by putting a single finger on his shoulder. He in turn fell backwards, his arms flying up in front of him and flailing. I snickered lightly. Leave it to Private.


	9. I'm at a dead end!

**I'm truly at a stalemate with this story. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and considered. I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting this long for something this disappointing, but I literally CAN'T think of anything to write. Please don't report this message as something like an author's note or something, it's more like a chapter that needs to be released, and your reviews are just helping out in the matter. KTHANXBAI :3**


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